68 VARIETIES OF NOCTUJ3 



y. var. mrgata, mihi. This is a variety which I can hardly pass 

 without mention. It belongs so far as the ground colour is concerned 

 to the C group, but differs from any of the varieties there mentioned 

 in having a distinct, dark, central band between the basal and elbowed 

 lines. The ground colour is of a pale ochreous tinted with reddish, 

 with the basal lines very pale, the abbreviated one with a fine black 

 edging on one side nearer the base. The space between the complete 

 basal and elbowed lines is of a deep reddish-brown, the claviform is 

 black and well developed, the orbicular, round and of a very pale grey, 

 the reniform also pale, with an almost white outline ; the subterminal 

 line is well marked, and the row of cuneiform spots fairly well de- 

 veloped. The hind wings are pale whitish-grey with the outer margin 

 darker. I have two specimens taken at Deal. This is so very distinct 

 a form, and the central band so remarkable, that it at once attracts 

 attention, and is undoubtedly one of the finest varieties of the species 

 I possess. 



Agrotis, Och., agatliina, Dup. 



Godart and Duponchel describe the type of this species as 

 follows : " The superior wings are the colour of wine dregs, with two 

 grey undulated transverse lines, of which the one nearer the outer 

 edge is accompanied with 7 small black arrow-shaped or cuneiform 

 streaks. The two ordinary stigmata are generally well marked in 

 greyish, and separated by a black or dark brown space. The orbicular, 

 of elongated form, is placed obliquely and is united to the upper 

 branch of a grey bifurcating line which starts from the base of the 

 wing ; the fringe is blackish. The inferior wings are of a yellowish- 

 grey colour with the fringes paler and spotted with grey " (' Histoire 

 naturelle des Lep. de France,' vii., p. 359). They also give a figure 

 (plate 122, fig. 2) of the species which represents the colour as 

 "slaty-grey, with two short, white, longitudinal basal streaks, the upper 

 one bifurcating, the top branch touching the orbicular ; a waved white 

 transverse basal line, reniform and orbicular outlined in whitish ; the 

 elbowed and subterminal lines whitish ; a row of cuneiform dashes on 

 the latter. Hind wings pale grey, darker on the outer margin, a pale 

 line running through the darker part parallel to the hind margin." 

 The figures, however, are frequently none too good in this work. 

 Besides this reddish-grey form there are two distinct varieties, one, of 

 a bright rosy colour with the characteristic markings, the other, with 

 the ground colour almost blackish (var. scoparice). Both forms occur 

 in Britain, the former, more especially in our southern counties, the 

 latter, in Scotland. The species has a pale costa, and shows consider- 

 able response in its coloring and markings to its environment among 

 the CalJuna and Erica on which it is found. 



a. var. scoparice, Mill. Milliere's description of this variety is as 

 follows : " It is a little smaller than the type, but the variety differs 

 from the type in the following manner, (1) by the deeper tone, almost 

 black, (2) by the smaller size of the ordinary stigmata, (3) by the 

 complete absence of the transverse line on the inferior wings, which, 

 however, is well developed on the underside. These three essential 

 characters, which do not vary, are insufficient to form in this darker race 

 of agatJiina, a species distinct from the type. It is also the opinion of 

 M. Guenee, who, by-the-by, recently informed me that he had received 

 from the north of Britain, varieties of this Agrotis identical with mine, 



